Shades of Ava: 3rd Birthday Edition
Last Wednesday, a former coworker went into labor with her first child. Ava was
born three years ago Wednesday, and hearing all of the office buzz about a
new birth took me back three years like it happened just last week. In the
long run three years in a person's life is but an eyeblink, but I swear that
if you look away for just one moment in a child's life you can miss out on
so much because that is just how quickly they grow. Ava has sprouted into quite
a little person, and while I am so very happy that her baby days are far far
behind us, I wish I could slow time down just a smidge. Before we know it,
bubbles and balloons are not going to cut it as the best birthday presents
ever.
Vivid Imagination
All of my storytelling and imagineering is finally playing out to a rapt
one-person audience. Whatever far fetched fantasy I can come up with Ava
listens and expounds on a lot of the details. One of our ongoing little
stories to help her fall asleep at night, is to imagine a pond with hundreds
of little fish that like to kiss her toes and nose (according to her). Big
purple fish, little yellow fish, orange fish, blue fish, fish every color of
the rainbow. She doesn't just pretend what I come up with either. Often
our attempts to get out the door in the morning are delayed because we have
to wait while she gets her "candy" or "gum." Ava rarely gets candy and
she's never had gum yet here she is with a handful everyday, and if she
doesn't have any she will make a special trip to the pretend store to get
some.
Mina Bird
We have come to the embarrassing stage of parenthood. The stage where
anything you say can and will be used against you. Anyone who knows Ava
personally can attest that she has excellent elocution and her vocabulary
expands daily. This only reflects how eloquent Rick and I are not. The both of us have toned down our zest telling other drivers how we really feel about their bonehead moves, and as a result I think we have curbed our daughter's potential sailor mouth. Things still slip here and there, but fortunately she is the first to correct us instead of mimicking like she once did. It isn't all negative things that she copies either. Ava has a knack for retaining much useless knowledge. This sponge-like quality has lended itself quite nicely to Ava telling anyone who will listen about her entire family, and chances are if you have met her recently she will talk about you too. Our daycare lady has a clear understanding of our family tree with its many, many branches.
Fill In the Blank
I feel as though I write a lot about Ava and reading books. Most likely, because we spend a lot of our time together reading books at her command. She's a little fascist about it...
"Ava, Mama's had a long day. I don't feel like reading right now."
"Yes, you do. READ. IT. RIGHT. NOW!" And shortly thereafter you have to duck and cover from the flying book launched at your head. We don't tolerate tantrum like behavior, but that kid has a really fast arm. Thankfully, as she has gotten bigger she has begun to take her stories into her own hands. She will sit and page through her books, narrating in complete gibberish with a few names and sayings thrown in.
"A saba saba koki saba, Grandpa Jack. Sabi sabi sabba, went to the store."
I love listening to her when she doesn't know we are paying attention because she puts in feeling and intonation just like we do when we read to her. She acts out all of the parts, putting emphasis in for anger and sterness. High pitched squeaky voices for happiness and excitement all while saying nothing that makes sense. Except maybe for the resounding "The End" after her ten mintute show for one.
Time does not stand still around here for very long, and the days blur into weeks. Ava changes just as rapidly. I don't do this extraordinary little person much justice in my descriptions of her because I have a tendency to take my gripes out here. But the fact of the matter is, Ava is a big hearted little girl who, despite our road bumps now and again, is I'm quite sure to be a wonderful big person someday. We try our hardest to do this whole parenting thing the right way, and when we tuck her in together every night, Ava is the first to give us big hugs and kisses and a sincerely sweet "I love you."
Happy Third Birthday Ava!
born three years ago Wednesday, and hearing all of the office buzz about a
new birth took me back three years like it happened just last week. In the
long run three years in a person's life is but an eyeblink, but I swear that
if you look away for just one moment in a child's life you can miss out on
so much because that is just how quickly they grow. Ava has sprouted into quite
a little person, and while I am so very happy that her baby days are far far
behind us, I wish I could slow time down just a smidge. Before we know it,
bubbles and balloons are not going to cut it as the best birthday presents
ever.
Vivid Imagination
All of my storytelling and imagineering is finally playing out to a rapt
one-person audience. Whatever far fetched fantasy I can come up with Ava
listens and expounds on a lot of the details. One of our ongoing little
stories to help her fall asleep at night, is to imagine a pond with hundreds
of little fish that like to kiss her toes and nose (according to her). Big
purple fish, little yellow fish, orange fish, blue fish, fish every color of
the rainbow. She doesn't just pretend what I come up with either. Often
our attempts to get out the door in the morning are delayed because we have
to wait while she gets her "candy" or "gum." Ava rarely gets candy and
she's never had gum yet here she is with a handful everyday, and if she
doesn't have any she will make a special trip to the pretend store to get
some.
Mina Bird
We have come to the embarrassing stage of parenthood. The stage where
anything you say can and will be used against you. Anyone who knows Ava
personally can attest that she has excellent elocution and her vocabulary
expands daily. This only reflects how eloquent Rick and I are not. The both of us have toned down our zest telling other drivers how we really feel about their bonehead moves, and as a result I think we have curbed our daughter's potential sailor mouth. Things still slip here and there, but fortunately she is the first to correct us instead of mimicking like she once did. It isn't all negative things that she copies either. Ava has a knack for retaining much useless knowledge. This sponge-like quality has lended itself quite nicely to Ava telling anyone who will listen about her entire family, and chances are if you have met her recently she will talk about you too. Our daycare lady has a clear understanding of our family tree with its many, many branches.
Fill In the Blank
I feel as though I write a lot about Ava and reading books. Most likely, because we spend a lot of our time together reading books at her command. She's a little fascist about it...
"Ava, Mama's had a long day. I don't feel like reading right now."
"Yes, you do. READ. IT. RIGHT. NOW!" And shortly thereafter you have to duck and cover from the flying book launched at your head. We don't tolerate tantrum like behavior, but that kid has a really fast arm. Thankfully, as she has gotten bigger she has begun to take her stories into her own hands. She will sit and page through her books, narrating in complete gibberish with a few names and sayings thrown in.
"A saba saba koki saba, Grandpa Jack. Sabi sabi sabba, went to the store."
I love listening to her when she doesn't know we are paying attention because she puts in feeling and intonation just like we do when we read to her. She acts out all of the parts, putting emphasis in for anger and sterness. High pitched squeaky voices for happiness and excitement all while saying nothing that makes sense. Except maybe for the resounding "The End" after her ten mintute show for one.
Time does not stand still around here for very long, and the days blur into weeks. Ava changes just as rapidly. I don't do this extraordinary little person much justice in my descriptions of her because I have a tendency to take my gripes out here. But the fact of the matter is, Ava is a big hearted little girl who, despite our road bumps now and again, is I'm quite sure to be a wonderful big person someday. We try our hardest to do this whole parenting thing the right way, and when we tuck her in together every night, Ava is the first to give us big hugs and kisses and a sincerely sweet "I love you."
Happy Third Birthday Ava!
Comments
:-)